Friday, October 19, 2007

Newsweek published a nice article to explain why money can't buy happiness. Here are the highlights of the article.

-For when economists tackled the question, they started from the observation that when people put something up for sale they try to get as much for it as they can, and when people buy something they try to pay as little for it as they can.

-Wealth increases human happiness when it lifts people out of abject poverty and into the middle class but that it does little to increase happiness thereafter.

-According to standard economics, the most important commodity you can buy with additional wealth is choice.

-Since World War II the gross domestic product per capita has tripled in the United States. But people's sense of well-being, as measured by surveys asking some variation of "Overall, how satisfied are you with your life?," has barely budged.

-Although economic output has risen steeply over the past decades, there has been no rise in life satisfaction … and there has been a substantial increase in depression and distrust.

-If money doesn't buy happiness, what does? Grandma was right when she told you to value health and friends, not money and stuff.

-Curiously, although money doesn't buy happiness, happiness can buy money. Young people who describe themselves as happy typically earn higher incomes, years later, than those who said they were unhappy.

Happiness is actually a state of your inner mind which is not dependent on how much Money you have. I do agree with the fact that money can't buy happiness, but donating money to charities is one of the best way to buy happiness. Charity makes you happy and feel good.